Sunday 13 February 2011

Nearly Ready To Give Up Sky #givingupsky

I listen a lot to the TWiT network of podcasts.From time to time they discuss Netflix and how some of the guests don’t have cable subscriptions any more. That interweb based services like netflix and hulu allow them to watch the stuff they want to watch as and when they want to see it and for cheaper.

Now that got me thinking although our tv market is different to the US, we have Sky as our only version of the cable/satellite providers of the US (Sky bought out Virgin on the channels front). So not much competition really to drive down prices for us regular folks.

Which got me thinking could I go the same way as these tech commentators in the US?

Well I hardly watch the traditional channels (BBC,ITV and Channel4) and most of my viewing is on Sky,ScFy, Comedy Central and the likes following various tv series. I have movies but watch them less and less, sport I only watch the odd Liverpool match.

So could I replace my Sky viewing with the net?

Well let’s look at my above viewing habits and see if there are alternatives available for me. The main thing is I want to avoid connecting my computer to the tv.

Let’s start with the traditional UK stations. I have a PS3 and the BBC iPlayer, ITV player and 4OD player are all available on it. So IF I ever want to see something on those channels I can get that via the PS3.

Let’s look at movies next. At the moment I can stream movies from my PC or Macbook to either my PS3 or a Xbox 360 (if I get one again). In fact I stream to my iPhone as well when at home. So having moved my vast DVD collection to a digital format (yep I’m all for going digital) I can be lazy and not have to hunt disks down. So that is current stuff I own.

But what about Netflix? Well Netflix are not in the UK at the moment, but we do have LoveFilm. Which have been using the same business model as Netflix here in the UK. LoveFilm are now 100% owned by Amazon, and the smart money this is in preparation of Amazon kicking off a revival service to Netflix. Now I have a problem with the LoveFilm subscriptions. They include an element I don’t want, the DVD hire. I want a cheaper streaming only subscription rate. Netflix in the US offer a streaming only deal. There are some pretty recent releases available on the streaming side, more recent than the Sky movie offerings each week. Plus I can watch them when it is convenient for me.  LoveFilm need to increase the offerings available on their streaming service, but I think this will increase if we get some competition for them (if Netflix come over here).

Let’s not forget I can also buy and rent movies from iTunes. But Apple need to increase their offerings and prices. I’d also like it if Apple introduced a subscription service a bit like LoveFilm and Netflix. However it does bring me on to another box that can be added to under the tv that ties in all the Apple devices and handles the streaming side of things. That box is the second generation Apple tv, which would be paid for easily if I cancelled my Sky subscription. Then all of a sudden my iPhone and any future iPad I get can send programs from them to the tv, I can stream from iTunes on my PC or Macbook etc. I’m also pretty sure that LoveFilm will be doing everything they can to get on the Apple tv before a UK version of Netflix does.

Also I have the PS3 store and Xbox Live stores to purchase movies through as well.

So not only does that adequately cover the Sky movie offerings, I think it cuts out the trips to Blockbusters.

Ok now let’s look at the tv series side of things. Well I can be patient and wait until they come out on DVD as a box set and hope they are also available to see streamed via LoveFilm or the iTunes store. Or I could torrent them and then stream them to the tv via the PS3. What we really need for this to be a realistic alternative is a UK hulu service bit I can’t see that happening in the near future (hulu tried but failed in getting deals with the content providers).

Then we have sports. Or more specifically Liverpool football matches. Well at the moment I would have to see if any of the “unofficial” channels will play on the PS3. But if Sky updated their iOS Mobile tv app with airplay (which they could do once airplay is opened up to third party apps) then for £6 a month (iirc) I could get just the sport channels. Which means I have not cut Sky out completely from the picture, but pretty close.

So considering all of the above, I think where we currently are in the UK, we are nearly there in being able to give up the likes of Sky. It helps if you have the boxes already like a PS3 or Xbox 360. An awful lot of homes do already, and as Sony and Microsoft have been trying to make them they are becoming more of an entertainment hub under the tv than just a game console. Plus it also assumes that you have access to a good broadband connection, and no data cap.

Maybe I will try not using Sky for a month to see how I get on. I’ll start on 1st March. I’ll keep this blog updated with how I get on.

So what are your thoughts on all this?